Published poetry and creative writing exercises for the curious creative by poet and playwright, Caroline N. Simpson

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

The Curious Creative: Week 43

The Red Wheelbarrow

This is the forty-third installment of The
Curious Creative, weekly 10-minute writing exercises for busy
individuals interested in exploring their creativity. For the complete
rationale, click here.

My Thoughts:

William Carlos Williams
was both a modernist and imagist poet. Imagism called for precise imagery and
direct, clear language. By focusing on one single image and describing it with “luminous details”
as imagist poet, Ezra Pound, called them, the reader can experience the image’s essence. “The Red Wheelbarrow” is
one of Williams’ most famous imagist poems:

The Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens.

With a phrase like “so
much depends upon,” the reader is left to fill in the blanks. Williams’ success
is not only what he chose as his “luminous details,” but also that he picked an
everyday object that, for most people, has many uses, connotations, and
memories packed into it.

In this week’s exercise,
you will also describe some everyday objects that have been lying around your
house or your backyard, and choose one packed with the most meaning to create a
poem modeled after Williams’. Your creative play will be the “luminous details”
you choose.

Your Turn!

Choose five tangible items from your home or wherever you are doing
this writing exercise. Observe them closely. In writing, describe each
briefly.

Choose one item from your list and write a poem based exactly on “The Red Wheelbarrow,” by
coping the lines "so much depends/ upon" and keeping the line
and stanza lengths. Fill in the rest with your description of the object
you chose.

“Red,” “glazed with rain water,” and “beside the
chickens” were the only three details Williams included. Your poem need
not have more than three descriptive details, and they can be just as
simple. Notice that Williams chose a color, a visual detail about its
texture, and what the item is juxtaposed next to. Feel free to use these
categories to guide you if you are stumped.

How did you do? Did the “luminous details” you chose, in fact, shine?
Did following a model, in terms of phrases and line/stanza lengths help you
focus on and isolate a few simple, yet, powerful details? Were you able to pack
enough connotation into the particular object you chose?

To encourage each other and grow a
community of Curious Creatives, sign in from a google account so you can share
your creation in the comment box below. Also, if you subscribe to this blog
(submit your email address in the "Follow this Site by Email" box to
the right), you will get an email update whenever a new exercise is added.
Thanks for playing!

Source: Inspired by teacher Stacy Chestnut’s exercise from
her creative writing class at East High School, Wichita, KS, September 2017.

Biography

Caroline N. Simpson is an English teacher by vocation, and a creative spirit and global adventurer at heart. She has taught English literature at international schools in Ankara, Izmir, and Erzurum, Turkey, as well as Barcelona, Spain. She currently teaches English for Academic Purposes at Edmonds Community College in Lynnwood, WA. She loves outdoor adventure, learning about other cultures, and of course writing. She has a BFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. She studied poetry at the Ezra Pound Center for Literature in Merano, Italy, the Hugo House, Seattle, WA, and playwriting at the Einhorn School of Performing Arts. She is a member of Seattle Playwrights Circle and the Dramatists Guild. You can reach her at gobetwee@yahoo.com.